Caroline Sweetman (ed.) (2000) Gender and lifecycles. Great Britain: Oxfam. (Book Reviews).

Salih, Osama Awad

This book in Oxfam's focus on the Gender Series was originally published as single issues of the Journal Gender and Development, which is published by Oxfam. The book links gender issues to the life course of women and men. Its main idea is around the fact that gender based discrimination is experienced differently according to age, generation and status in the family. In particular, female children and elderly women perform an enormous amount of the world's work, endure appalling abuse of their human rights and receive disproportionately few benefits from development. Writers of the book call for development policy and practice to recognise this vast contribution, and enforce the rights of women of all ages to an equal share of development outcomes. Other topics, include women's life histories, reproductive health education of adolescents, trafficking of young girls, the survival strategies of child-headed and grandparent-headed households affected by HIV/AIDS, older women's marginalization from community-ba sed organisations and the attitude of older women and men to living alone or entering care homes when they reach the point where support is needed.

The book consisted of nine chapters (articles). The first article: 'Why we should invest in older women and men', written by Sylvia Beales and it reflects the experience of Help Age International. The article explores the roles of older women and men in the developing world and the barriers they encounter in the course of contributing to their families and communities. It emphasises that many men too face marginalisation as the ageing process undermines their ability to provide for their families. The article concluded that the key to change is to reorientate development and social policy so that they value and support the contributions of older women and men to their communities.

The second article: 'At my age I should be sitting under that tree.' This article which is written by Judith Appleton focuses on the impact of AIDS on Tanzanian lakeshore communities. This article originated from a PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal) exercise in 1992 in different parts of Tanzania aimed at analysing the ways in which AIDS was changing livelihoods in poor fishing and farming communities. The article ends by suggesting ways in which development policy makers and practitioners should support livelihood in the area of AIDS.

'Providing sex education to adolescents in rural Bangladesh' is the third article of the book which is written by Sabina Faiz Rashid. The article reflects on the experience of an Adolescent Reproductive Health Education (ARHE) Programme in Bangladesh (1995). The programme aimed at providing information about RH to adolescents in rural areas, the programme used new ideas for breaking the silence and shame about 'sensitive' topics of RH.

The fourth article: 'Using life histories to explore change'. Written by Rachel Slater reflects on women's urban struggles in Cape Town, South Africa. The article examined the lives of four women who experienced different catastrophic situations in South Africa. The article showed how useful investigating people life histories can be in developing understanding of the way in which their freedom to act is both constrained and supported by their context. The author concluded that the use of life histories in development research enables to examine the impact of policies on different kinds of people rather than homogenising people's experiences of poverty and the ways in which a policy affects them. As well as offering a good opportunity to inject humanity into our analysis of social and economic changes.

The fifth article: 'Intact or in tatters? 'By Ann Varley and Maribel Blasco. The article asks how family relationships affect the living conditions of low-income elderly people in urban Mexico. It was found that families ( poorer) cannot afford to provide care, and some are unwilling to do so. In addition, families treat elderly men and women differently with significant consequences for women's and men's housing conditions and well being in later life.

The sixth article: 'Transitions and boundaries', a research into the impact of paid work on young women's lives in Jordan. By Mary Kawar. This article explores the economic and social impact of the growing participation of young urban women in the workforce in urban Amman Jordan. The writer argues that there is a new 'stage' in women's life-course in Jordan: single, employed adulthood.

The seventh article: 'Community research in older women in the Dominican Republic', by Jackie Cheetham and Wendy Alba. The designation of 1999as the UN International year for the Older People has brought the issues of ageing and old age to the attention of policy-makers and governments. However despite a series of recent International reports which demonstrate growing awareness, among the international development organisation of the need to focus on elderly people world-wide. Peru's elderly population continues to be marginalised from formal support and is therefore, increasingly dependent on informal social organisations to meet its needs.

The eighth article: 'Girl Trafficking, HIV/AIDS and the position of women in Nepal.' By Pratina Pouded and Jenny Carryer. Trafficking is an integral part of the social and economic fabric of Nepal as in other parts of the World. The article examines the connections between coercive sex work and HIV infection and community and government responses to HIV infection among trafficked sex workers.

Article number nine: 'Gender, age and exclusion; a challenge to community organisations in Lima, Peru. 'By Fiona Clark and Nina Laurie. The article has pointed out that the ageing of Latin American populations is an issue that has to be taken seriously very soon. Social security system are currently faced with challenge of a growing elderly population, which is predominantly female. The privatisation of the pension system has highlighted the inherent gender urban and formal-economic biases that continue to exclude many people and especially women, from its benefits.